Outsourcing Pollution

Instituting a tax on energy probably isn’t a good idea in a recession. Forgetting the economics, though, there is the possibility that cap and trade will actually hurt the environment. Case in point: steel production. The Wall Street Journal reported back in May that industry analysts expect the passage of cap and trade to cause steel production to get sent overseas:

integrated steel operations would move to developing nations such as Brazil… Set up abroad, they would essentially emit the same amount of carbon — only without restrictions.